Patrick Beverley has always been one of the most outspoken and opinionated players in the NBA. Even now that he’s no longer in the league and playing overseas, his thoughts are still heard. The Pat Bev Podcast has one of the bigger followings for a podcast hosted by a basketball player. After 12 seasons in the NBA, Beverley just began play with Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Isreali Basketball Premier League.
Recently, he named his top five centers in the NBA. The first four shouldn’t surprise anyone, but his fifth choice likely raised a few eyebrows.
Pat Beverley’s Top 5 NBA Centers Has Surprising Name Included
Includes A Former Teammate Of His
When looking at lists that rank NBA centers, most have Nikola Jokic in the top spot, followed by Joel Embiid. Beverley didn’t stray from the consensus by listing them first and second. Anthony Davis third and Bam Adebayo fourth probably didn’t ruffle many feathers either.
It was the fifth spot on his list (he actually named him third, but said he’s probably the fifth-best) that caught people off guard. He chose Los Angeles Clippers big man Ivica Zubac. To be clear, Beverley stated that he doesn’t view Victor Wembanyama as a center, thus why he didn’t make his list.
The starting 5 best centers in the NBA! Presented by @NewAmsterdam pic.twitter.com/4RT2Op4vTl
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) September 5, 2024
Now this isn’t to say that Zubac isn’t a good player. It was just a few days ago that the 27-year-old agreed on a three-year extension worth $58.6 million. Most would say that seems like fair value for the eight-year veteran. Most also wouldn’t have Zubac sniffing their top five center list.
The seven-foot Zubac has been the Clippers full-time starting center in each of the last three seasons. He has been in the starting lineup for each of his 220 regular season appearances over that time as well as his 11 postseason games. Since the 2021-22 season, Zubac has posted per game averages of 10.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 blocks in 26.4 minutes. He has shot 63.7% from the field and 71.5% from the foul line.
Zubac was traded to the Clippers in February of 2019 from the Los Angeles Lakers. Beverley has firsthand experience playing with Zubac on the Clippers. He was on the team when Zubac first arrived, and Beverley remained with the Clippers through the 2020-21 season.
Centers He Included Zubac Over
On August 31, the website HoopsHype came out with their top 30 centers in the NBA for the 2024-25 season. Zubac was able to find his way onto the list, but he was towards the bottom at 26th. Obviously, 26th is nowhere close to being in the top five. Other than the four centers (and Wembanyama) that Beverley named, the other centers who were ranked above Zubac by HoopsHype include Domantas Sabonis, Rudy Gobert, Alperen Sengun, Chet Holmgren, Kristaps Porzingis, Myles Turner, Jarrett Allen, Nikola Vucevic, Naz Reid, Deandre Ayton, Dereck Lively II, Nic Claxton, Isaiah Hartenstein, Brook Lopez, Daniel Gafford, Jusuf Nurkic, Jonas Valanciunas, Bobby Portis, Mark Williams, and Clint Capela.
Now if Beverley doesn’t consider Wembanyama a center, maybe he feels likewise about players such as Holmgren and Porzingis. Even without those three, Beverley’s ranking of Zubac doesn’t align with most NBA fans.
